Ink Out Loud: Vision to think ahead

Just after high school, I knew the name as a metal band with the melancholy ballad "Love Song."

In college, I learned he was really the guy who invented radio, but didn't get the credit he was due.

I'm long-since out of school, but I am still learning about Tesla.

Recently I learned that the Tesla Model S car outscored every other car in Consumer Reports magazine's test ratings, and it's an electric car.

Now, Elon Musk, CEO and product architect for Tesla Motors, CEO/CTO of Space Exploration Technologies and the founder of PayPal, proves himself the quintessentially bold visionary of our time.

Musk is working on the concept of a "Hyperloop," a superfast, solar-powered, money-saving tubular transit train that boasts the ability to get passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half-hour.

I imagine Musk is a lot like Nikola Tesla was.

Tesla was way ahead of his time, too. He was born in the 1800s in Serbia and eventually moved to New York, where he remained.

He was an electrical and mechanical engineer, physicist and a futurist.

I studied his story in college physics, where I learned of his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. My professor said he should have been credited with the invention of the radio, but Marconi snagged the patent.

Tesla and Musk remind me of the endless possibilities in this world, and even outside of this world. When human beings stretch their minds, they are capable of phenomenal feats.

Education, dedication, willingness to accept new concepts and ideas drive the engine of innovation.

L.A. Times editorial writer Jon Healey wrote, "If I had to pick a horse in this race, I'd bet on California finishing the oft-delayed high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco before a single section of the Hyperloop gets built."

Given Musks' accomplishments before even reaching age 40, I'd put my money on that guy -- a passionate physicist completing multiple successful projects to the highest standards.

"It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer. Two people who don't know something are no better than one. It will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive." -- Elon Musk

Mandy Feder is the Managing Editor of Lake County Publishing. She can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 32 or by email at mandyfeder@yahoo.com.